The remote controllers have been widely used for controlling the operation of many appliances, e.g. TV, audio player system, video player system. However, one remote controller specific to one appliance, in general, can not be used with other appliances. For instance, remote controller coming with TV can not control the operation of other appliances, i.e. household air conditioner system. Furthermore, the control function of each button on one specific remote controller is predefined by controller in the appliance. Although some remote controllers have learning capability, the emulated function after learning (configuration) procedure is not effective to other appliances. Main reason of this limitation is caused by a preset transmit frequency at the remote controller side and preset receiving frequency at the receiver side of the appliance. Typically, the data transmit frequency of the remote controller falls between 20 Khz.about.60 Khz among different appliances and different brands. The output data code for same function button among different remote controllers also differs.
Traditionally, the personal computer system has many different kinds of peripheral devices which communicate with the computer systems via different kinds of cable. However, peripheral device with wireless communication has been rare. Due to limitation of the cable, the user's location has to be close to the input device of computer system in order to use or control the computer system.
The state-of-art computer system usually provides energy-saving features which selectively switches off the main power to certain components when the system is idle for extended periods of time. The conventional power management circuit monitors a keyboard, mouse or other system elements for signs of activity and turns off a main supply power Vss if no activity is found for a predetermined period of time. This places the system in a standby mode of operation. In standby mode of operation, a low current standby power supply Vsb is provided to supply power to standby logic circuit. The standby logic circuit functions to force the system to exit the standby mode in response to a wake-up activity. In addition, the computer system typically includes a low-current lithium battery power supply for providing power to system timekeeping circuitry, which includes a well known real time clock (RTC), while the system is completely shut down.
In some environments, the user may wish to access other devices connected to the computer system without accessing the traditional keyboard or computer mouse. For instance, when a user wants to access his information in the storage device within the computer system for immediate presentation in a seminar, a remote controller will best serve the purpose. At present time, the infrared remote controllers coming with home appliances are straight forward choice if they may serve the purpose. However, it appears that, without additional technology, the traditional home appliance remote controller will not serve the purpose of controlling the computer system due to aforementioned reasons. When the computer system is in standby mode, the user may wish to wake up the computer system by a conventional remote controller.
Therefore, it is the object of the instant invention to control the power supply switching of a computer system by a button of a conventional remote controller.